The ethics of care is a normative ethical theory; that is, a theory about what makes actions right or wrong. It is one of a cluster of normative ethical theories that were developed by feminists in the second half of the twentieth century. While consequentialist and deontological ethical theories emphasize universal standards and impartiality, ethics of care emphasize the importance of relationships.

The basic beliefs of the theory are:

1. All individuals are interdependent for achieving their interests
2. Those particularly vulnerable to our choices and their outcomes deserve extra consideration to be measured according to
   1. the level of their vulnerability to one's choices
   2. the level of their affectedness by one's choices and no one else's
3. It is necessary to attend to the contextual details of the situation in order to safeguard and promote the actual specific interests of those involved

Historical background[link]

One of the founders of the ethics of care was American ethicist and psychologist Carol Gilligan. Gilligan was a student of developmental psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg and developed her moral theory in contrast to her mentor's theory of stages of moral development. This concept of human maturity measures, and is used to assess progress along the following stages:^[1]

Gilligan advanced the view that this model must be wrong. Measuring progress by it resulted in boys being found to be more morally mature than girls, and this held for adult men and women as well, although when education is controlled for there are no gender differences.^[2] This was not an objective scale of moral development, Gilligan argued, but other researchers have found the scale to be psycho-metrically sound.^[3] It displayed a particularly masculine perspective on morality, founded on justice and abstract duties or obligations. She also stated that Kohlberg's founding study consisted of largely male participants.^[4]

Gilligan offered a difference feminist perspective: men and women have tendencies to view morality in different terms, with women emphasizing empathy and compassion over the notions of morality that are privileged by Kohlberg's scale.^[5] Subsequent research, however, has shown that there are no gender differences in the use of the care ethic or the justice orientation.^[6]

Comparing ethics of care with traditional ethical positions[link]

Ethics of care contrasts with more well-known ethical views, such as consequentialist theories (e.g. utilitarianism) and deontological theories (e.g. Kantian ethics). This sort of outlook is what feminist critics call a 'justice view' of morality. A morality of care rests on the understanding of relationships as a response to another in their terms.

Ethics of care and feminist ethics[link]

While some feminists have criticized care-based ethics for reinforcing traditional stereotypes of a “good woman”^[7] others have embraced parts of this paradigm under the theoretical concept of care-focused feminism.^[8]

Care-focused feminism is a branch of feminist thought, informed primarily by ethics of care as developed by Carol Gilligan and Nel Noddings.^[9] This body of theory is critical of how caring is socially engendered to women and consequently devalued. “Care-focused feminists regard women’s capacity for care as a human strength”^[10] which can and should be taught to and expected of men as well as women. Noddings proposes that ethical caring has the potential to be a more concrete evaluative model of moral dilemma, than an ethic of justice.^[11] Noddings’ care-focused feminism requires practical application of relational ethics, predicated on an ethic of care.^[12]

Ethics of care is also a basis for care-focused feminist theorizing on maternal ethics. Critical of how society engenders caring labor, theorists Sara Ruddick, Virginia Held, and Eva Feder Kittay suggest caring should be performed and care givers valued in both public and private spheres.^[13] Their theories recognize caring as an ethically relevant issue.^[14] This proposed paradigm shift in ethics encourages that an ethic of caring be the social responsibility of both men and women.

See also[link]

Theories[link]

• Feminist ethics
• Ethics

Theorists[link]

• Sandra Bartky
• Grace Clement
• Carol Gilligan
• Virginia Held
• Sarah Hoagland
• Eva Feder Kittay
• Rita Manning
• Nel Noddings
• Sara Ruddick
• Ellen Feder
• Michael Slote

References[link]

1. ^ Cavanaugh, J & Kail, R(2004) Human development: A Lifespan View, (3rd ed.) Wadsworth press Pg 321
2. ^ Walker, L.J. (1991). "Sex differences in moral reasoning.” In W.M. Kurtines and J. L. Gewirtz (eds.) Handbook of moral behavior and development: Vol, 2. Research. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
3. ^ Ward, Dana (2000). "Still Hearing Voice: The Persistent Myth of Gendered Judgment," Keynote address presented at the VIIIth Biennial conference of the International Society for Justice Research, Rishon LeZion, Israel.
4. ^ In a Different Voice
5. ^ Gilligan, Carol. In A Different Voice. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1982.
6. ^ Ford and Lowery (1986). "Gender Differences in Moral Reasoning: A Comparison of the Use of Justice and Care Orientations". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 50(4), 777-783; Rothbart, Hanley and Albert (1986). "Gender Differences in Moral Reasoning." Sex Roles. 15(11&12), 645-653; and Krebs, D.L., Vermeulen, S.C., Denton, K., and Carpendale, J. I. (1994). "Gender and perspective differences in moral judgment and moral orientation". Journal of Moral Education. 23, 17-26.
7. ^ Bartky, Sandra Lee: Femininity and Domination, page 104-5. Routledge, New York, 1990.
8. ^ Tong, Rosmarie: Feminist Thought: A More Comprehensive Introduction, page 162-165. Westview Press, Charlotte, 2009.
9. ^ Tong, Rosmarie: Feminist Thought: A More Comprehensive Introduction, page 162-165. Westview Press, Charlotte, 2009.
10. ^ Tong, Rosmarie: Feminist Thought: A More Comprehensive Introduction, page 162-165. Westview Press, Charlotte, 2009.
11. ^ Noddings, Nel: Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education, page 3-4. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1984.
12. ^ Noddings, Nel: Women and Evil, page 222. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1989.
13. ^ Kittay, Eva Feder: Love’s Labor: Essays on Women, Equality and Dependency, page 20. Routledge, New York, 1999.
14. ^ Held, Virginia. Ethics of Care, page 64. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006.

Further reading and External links[link]

• Held, Virginia (2005). The Ethics of Care. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI:10.1093/0195180992.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-518099-2. http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/content/philosophy/9780195180992/toc.html. 

• Slote, Michael A. (2007). The Ethics of Care and Empathy. London ; New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-77200-6 (hardback). 
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Feminist Ethics
• Ethics of Care article at Carnegie Mellon website
• Gilligan's stages of moral development
• Nel Noddings biography

• Gilligan, Carol. In A Different Voice. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1982.

• Jagger, Alison. “Caring as a Feminist Practice of Moral Reason.” Justice and Care: Essential Readings in Feminist Ethics. Ed. Virginia Held. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. 1995.

• Noddings, Nel, ed. Educating Citizens for Global Awareness. New York: Teachers College Press. 2005.

• Held, Virginia. Feminist Morality: Transforming Culture, Society, and Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1993.

Carol Gilligan
Born	(1936-11-28) November 28, 1936 (age 75)
Occupation	Professor
Nationality	United States
Subjects	Psychology, Ethics, Feminism
Notable work(s)	In a Different Voice

Carol Gilligan (born November 28, 1936) is an American feminist, ethicist, and psychologist best known for her work with and against Lawrence Kohlberg on ethical community and ethical relationships, and certain subject-object problems in ethics. She is currently a Professor at New York University and a Visiting Professor at the University of Cambridge. She is best known for her 1982 work, In a Different Voice.

Background and career[link]

Carol Gilligan was raised in a Jewish family in New York City.^[1] She was the only child of a lawyer, William Friedman, and nursery school teacher, Mabel Caminez. She played piano and pursued a career in modern dance during her graduate studies. Gilligan received her B.A. summa cum laude in English literature from Swarthmore College, a master's degree in clinical psychology from Radcliffe College, and a Ph.D. in social psychology from Harvard University. [1]

She began her teaching career at Harvard University in 1967, receiving tenure with the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1988. Gilligan taught for two years at the University of Cambridge (from 1992–1994) as the Pitt Professor of American History and Institutions. In 1997, she was appointed to the Patricia Albjerg Graham Chair in Gender Studies.[2]

Gilligan left Harvard in 2002 to join New York University as a full professor with the School of Education and the School of Law. [3] She is currently a visiting professor with the University of Cambridge (Centre for Gender Studies).[4]

She is married to James Gilligan, M.D., who directed the Center for the Study of Violence at Harvard Medical School. [5]

Awards[link]

• 1992 Grawemeyer Award in Education
• 1996 Time Magazine - one of the 25 most influential Americans
• 1998 4th Annual Heinz Award in the Human Condition^[2]

Books[link]

Best known for her work, In a Different Voice, Gilligan studied women’s psychology and girls’ development and co-authored or edited a number of texts with her students. [6] She published her first novel, Kyra in 2008. [7] [8]

List[link]

• In a Different Voice, Harvard University Press, (1982)
• Mapping the Moral Domain: A Contribution of Women's Thinking to Psychological Theory and Education, Harvard University Press, (1989)
• Making Connections: The Relational Worlds of Adolescent Girls at Emma Willard School, Harvard University Press, (1990)
• Meeting at the Crossroads: Women's Psychology and Girls' Development, Harvard University Press, (1992)
• Between Voice and Silence: Women and Girls, Race and Relationships, Harvard University Press, (1997)
• The Birth of Pleasure, Knopf, (2002)
• Kyra, Random House, (2008)
• The Deepening Darkness: Patriarchy, Resistance, & Democracy's Future, Cambridge University Press, (2009) (with co-author David A.J. Richards)
• a dramatic adaptation of the novel The Scarlet Letter, co-written with her son Jonathan and produced by Prime Stage Theatre in November 2011

See also[link]

• Kohlberg's stages of moral development
• Mental disorders and gender
• Ethics of care

References[link]

External links[link]

• Biography of Gilligan at Webster University
• 2008 Commencement Speech (Mount Holyoke College)
• Conversation with Carol Gilligan